


Study

by Emfoofoo



Category: Hamlet - Shakespeare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, M/M, Modern Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-11-15 14:49:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11233254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emfoofoo/pseuds/Emfoofoo
Summary: Hamlet and Horatio are two university students stressed about the upcoming year and the immense amount of work they've already received.





	Study

The season of autumn never failed to impress Horatio. Even on days where the wind chilled him to the bone, or the rain would never seem to hold back the entire day, he still loved the season. He loved the holidays, with Halloween always bringing a smile to his face as he spectated the impressive display of brightly coloured children's costumes. He adored the cooling climate from the heat of the summer, bringing him the opportunity to fully flourish in the season for sweater weather with his cardigans and sweaters. 

But with all good things that come with autumn, wading through another year's work at university was not one of Horatio's favourite things to come with this season. His second several paged psychology paper was due the following week, and the school year had barely even reached 3 months - he recognized the responsibility and hard work of it all, and sometimes he enjoyed doing the work - but he was beginning to believe that the work load was getting to be a little unreasonable for how short of a time he's been in the class.

Thankfully, Horatio's favourite place to work on papers, reports, essays, and the like wasn't too far out of his reach. At a few blocks down the street from the university was a small, cozy coffee shop. To most people's first impressions, it would only seem like a regular coffee shop with no extravagant decor or furniture, but Horatio got to know the place and its employees so well that he loved every inch of the place and every quirk it had. 

He strolled in the light drizzle of rain to the door and pushed it, wiping his shoes off on the mat when he entered. A barista smiled at him from behind the counter - he returned the kind gesture and greeted her shyly. He made his way to the till, ordered a large coffee with a caramel and espresso shot, and staked out his spot for the next few remaining hours in the afternoon. He sat down in a comfortable lounge sofa and set his coffee down on the table in front of him. Surrounding the sofa were two other lounge chairs, and on the wall behind the table, there was a small fireplace, with a thick layer of glass keeping the dangerous heat in, but allowing the gentle warmth out. He pulled his laptop out of his brown leather messenger bag, opened up the document which contained his paper, and got to work. 

The shop in the afternoon was fairly quiet, the occasional few customers coming in every once in a while. Horatio found that this was the best time of day to come in to the shop to work; if it got busy to the point where it was too loud, his noise cancelling earbuds were sure to eliminate the unwanted sound and get Horatio to focus again. He also preferred working at the shop due to how therapeutic it was to him - the quiet instrumental music in the background and smells of freshly made coffee and pastries were perfect ingredients in setting the study mood that Horatio always desires.

The small bell at the top of the door gave a cheerful ring as another customer walked through the door. Horatio resisted the urge to look behind him to see who had just entered, and continued to work on his paper instead. It was only when the customer took a seat beside Horatio that made him lose his train of thought - Horatio peered over to his right side to see his friend Hamlet slouched on the sofa beside him.  


"Hello, Hamlet." Horatio greeted.

"Hello." he replied unenthusiastically. He sunk his body into the sofa even more and let out a sigh.

"Is there something bothering you? You sound a little more.... down than usual."

"My entire existence is bothering me."

Horatio folded the screen halfway down on his laptop and set it down on the table with his coffee. He crossed his legs and placed a finely boned hand on his knee and gazed over towards Hamlet.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Horatio inquired.

"Yeah. I guess just listen to me rant." 

"Of course. Would you like a coffee as well?"

"....Yes please."

Hamlet peered over at Horatio and gave a small smile, then swung his head back around and looked back down at the ground. The two students lifted themselves off of the sofa and headed to the till. Hamlet ordered a small coffee, making an attempt on saving Horatio some money, but all of the flavour shots he added to his drink made the coffee as expensive as a large one. He felt bad, but was grateful for someone as good as Horatio to put up with him. They both sat back down at their spots. Horatio picked up his coffee and took another sip from it, then set it back down on the table again. Hamlet started to rant about what was troubling him to Horatio, trying to keep it short and simple to waste as little of Horatio's time as possible.

\---------

"....And then there's my parents, always on my ass on the time about my marks. Where am I supposed to pull a 90% average out of? Thin air? The semester's barely started and I'm already feeling stressed about everything and I hate it." Hamlet rambled.

"I understand. There's an unreasonable amount of work this year so far for my psychology class. I wish my professor was a little more rational with the work load."

A strong silence broke in between the two. Horatio reached for his laptop to continue working on his paper. He propped open the laptop screen again and traversed his fingers across the keyboard, typing a flurry of words that he hoped would make sense to his professor.

Hamlet took another sip of his coffee and looked over at Horatio, studying his facial features and getting lost in the movement of his fingers. Impulsively, he shifted his body closer to Horatio and gently rested his head on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Horatio." he mumbled.

Horatio blushed at the exact same moment that Hamlet made the affectionate gesture. He turned his head and peeked at Hamlet, who looked peaceful in his moment of peril. Timidly, Horatio slid his right arm behind Hamlet and caressed him, rubbing his thumb up and down on the cloth of Hamlet's black sweatshirt. Horatio's left hand curled up loosely on his laptop as both he and Hamlet enjoyed the moment. 

The two sat like that for a considerable amount of time, until Horatio decided that Hamlet had received enough affection from him and returned to work on his paper. Hamlet remained in the same position, hooked on Horatio's body like a leech who longed for his presence and affection. 

\------

One of the baristas who was left to close with her coworker announced to the two that the shop was to close in 10 minutes. Horatio saved his work, feeling a moment of pride in how much work he had accomplished that day, and packed his laptop away. The two threw out their empty coffee cups and headed out the door.

"Horatio... Can you walk me home?" Hamlet asked timidly.

"Of course." 

It was out of the way of his route home, but Horatio was willing to make the courteous gesture for Hamlet. 

The two walked in silence on the drizzly autumn evening. After walking together for about half a block, Hamlet mustered up enough courage to commit another act of affection - he gently bumped his hand into Horatio's, indicating that he wanted to hold hands. Horatio gave a small bump back, and Hamlet wrapped his hand around Horatio's in response. Horatio gazed over at Hamlet and noticed a shy smile graced upon his face. Horatio smiled at Hamlet's happiness, glad that he was starting to feel better, and that he was able to provide Hamlet both a literal and metaphorical place to lean on in his time of distress. They walked the rest of the distance hand in hand until they reached Hamlet's house. Hamlet released Horatio's hand from his own grip, and turned to face him. 

"Thank you again for everything today, Horatio. I feel a little bit bad, wasting your time and making you buy that expensive coffee...." Hamlet said.

"You're welcome, and don't feel that way, Hamlet. I care a lot about you. I'll always be here if you need me."

Hamlet looked down and smiled at Horatio's kind words and charm and wondered to himself how he could have found such an amazing person in his lifetime, in a world with a society full of people he felt a tasteful disliking towards. Horatio was too good to be true for Hamlet, but Horatio was true, and he was alive in this day and age, loving Hamlet as much as Hamlet loved Horatio.

He gazed back up at Horatio and noticed that he was cleaning the lenses his gold rimmed glasses, which had accumulated a large amount of small beads of raindrops on them. He slid them back on his face when they were clean, raising his eyebrows and blinking his eyes a few times to adjust to the enhanced view of the world. Hamlet took hold of Horatio's hand again, this time holding onto every finger except for his pinkie and thumb. He gazed deeply into Horatio's brown eyes in the moment of sweetness, enjoying every second of it. Out of the blue, he took a step forward and placed a light kiss on Horatio's soft lips, moving his hands from Horatio's to cradle his arms. Horatio was taken back by the unexpected kiss, but adjusted his posture and arms in response to embrace Hamlet. Unsure of Horatio's reaction, Hamlet pulled back as quickly as he had kissed him - but Horatio craved more. He took Hamlet in an embrace again, a little tighter from last time and planted a kiss on his lips, the tips of their noses grazing together awkwardly. The passionate kiss was accompanied by travelling hands, Hamlet's hands working their way up to Horatio's shoulders, and Horatio's hands rubbing Hamlet's back, the cloth of his black sweatshirt getting clumped in between Horatio's slender fingers. The two broke the kiss off and held each other in a tight hug for quite some time.

"I love you, Horatio." Hamlet murmured into Horatio's shoulder.

"I love you too, Hamlet."

After exchanging their feelings for each other, Hamlet headed into his house for the night, straight into his room and texted Horatio into the early hours of the morning. When the two finally fell asleep that night, they both shared fond and soft dreams of when they would both see each other again.


End file.
